NCAA TOURNAMENT

Wildcats, Gators meet in Elite Eight

Published: Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 12:00 a.m.

Al Horford and the Florida Gators will try to avenge last year's season-ending loss to Villanova when the two meet again today in the NCAA Elite Eight in Minneapolis.

MICHAEL CONROY/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Facts

Villanova vs. Florida

5 p.m. TodayTV: CBS

Florida continues: Gators drastically different from last NCAA meeting with Villanova.

MINNEAPOLIS - A year later, the image is still fresh in Villanova's mind.
Star forward Curtis Sumpter crumpled on the floor in pain, his knee ligament shredded, and the Wildcats wondering how they were going to hold on in their second-round game against Florida.
Out of alternatives, coach Jay Wright threw four guards on the floor after halftime, just hoping to survive for 20 minutes.
Now the Wildcats face Florida in the NCAA tournament again - on the cusp of their first Final Four since the underdog 'Cats shocked Georgetown in the 1985 title game. And the decision to play that wacky small ball has evolved from a desperate measure to a defining moment.
"We had no choice," Wright said. "We had a lead. We are in the NCAA tournament. We said, 'Let's get through this second half and let's see if these guys can hold onto the ball, and we make some plays and just try to rebound with them."'
It worked better than Wright, or anyone else, could have imagined. Villanova cruised past Florida and almost beat eventual champion North Carolina in the round of 16, attacking the bigger Tar Heels with four guards.
"Carolina was huge. We are not going to play 40 minutes with four guards against Carolina," Wright remembers thinking. "So we started that way, but we were ready to adjust and play big, and then it just worked."
And it kept working.
Sumpter, whom many of the Wildcats call the team's best player, re-injured his knee before this season started and 'Nova rode those four guards to a team-record 28 wins and the school's first No. 1 seed.
While this year's Wildcats look virtually identical to the team that ousted the favored Gators last year, Florida (30-6) couldn't be much different.
Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh and David Lee are all gone from that team. In their stead, a group of mature, but unseasoned, sophomores have turned the Gators into overachievers, for a change.
"This year, we're taking a different approach. Basically I think that we are the hunted and they're coming after us," said 'Nova guard Randy Foye, who scored 29 points in Friday's win over Boston College. "But they're a great team. Even though they lost Matt Walsh, Roberson and Lee, they're still a great team. The younger guys they have, have stepped up."
Sophs Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Al Horford all have emerged to bring Florida back to the brink of its first Final Four since playing in the national championship game in 2000.
"I would say that our basketball team is totally different," coach Billy Donovan said. "Every guy on our team is playing a completely different role than they did a year ago."
Noah, a 6-foot-11 center from New York by way of France, has been the rock. He had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in Friday night's win over seventh-seeded Georgetown.
Both teams love to get out and run and should be eager to do so after being stymied in the round of 16. BC slowed the pace to a crawl in an overtime loss to Villanova.
Georgetown did the same against Florida, but Brewer's three-point play and Horford's two free throws with 7 seconds lifted the Gators.
"It's going to be an up-and-down game," Brewer said. "That's what we like to do, run up and down the court, so we are going to have a good time."
After BC's size and muscle forced Villanova to ditch its vaunted four-guard lineup, the Wildcats are looking forward to putting their racing slicks on again for today.
"We definitely both like to run down the court," Allan Ray said. "It's not like BC, where they like to slow the game down. It's definitely going to be up and down."
When Wright first installed that small lineup, the basketball purist in him cringed.
"It looked ridiculous," Wright said. "Honestly."
As the wins started to pile up, the offense has grown on him.
"There are some positives to this," Wright said. "It is creating problems for the other team, too. So we have hung with it. It gets us by. I am not making any videos on it."
If those four guards carry the Cats back to the Final Four, he won't have to. There will be plenty of others who will do that work for him.

MINNEAPOLIS - A year later, the image is still fresh in Villanova's mind.<BR>
Star forward Curtis Sumpter crumpled on the floor in pain, his knee ligament shredded, and the Wildcats wondering how they were going to hold on in their second-round game against Florida.<BR>
Out of alternatives, coach Jay Wright threw four guards on the floor after halftime, just hoping to survive for 20 minutes.<BR>
Now the Wildcats face Florida in the NCAA tournament again - on the cusp of their first Final Four since the underdog 'Cats shocked Georgetown in the 1985 title game. And the decision to play that wacky small ball has evolved from a desperate measure to a defining moment.<BR>
"We had no choice," Wright said. "We had a lead. We are in the NCAA tournament. We said, 'Let's get through this second half and let's see if these guys can hold onto the ball, and we make some plays and just try to rebound with them."'<BR>
It worked better than Wright, or anyone else, could have imagined. Villanova cruised past Florida and almost beat eventual champion North Carolina in the round of 16, attacking the bigger Tar Heels with four guards.<BR>
"Carolina was huge. We are not going to play 40 minutes with four guards against Carolina," Wright remembers thinking. "So we started that way, but we were ready to adjust and play big, and then it just worked."<BR>
And it kept working.
Sumpter, whom many of the Wildcats call the team's best player, re-injured his knee before this season started and 'Nova rode those four guards to a team-record 28 wins and the school's first No. 1 seed.<BR>
While this year's Wildcats look virtually identical to the team that ousted the favored Gators last year, Florida (30-6) couldn't be much different.<BR>
Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh and David Lee are all gone from that team. In their stead, a group of mature, but unseasoned, sophomores have turned the Gators into overachievers, for a change.<BR>
"This year, we're taking a different approach. Basically I think that we are the hunted and they're coming after us," said 'Nova guard Randy Foye, who scored 29 points in Friday's win over Boston College. "But they're a great team. Even though they lost Matt Walsh, Roberson and Lee, they're still a great team. The younger guys they have, have stepped up."<BR>
Sophs Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Al Horford all have emerged to bring Florida back to the brink of its first Final Four since playing in the national championship game in 2000.<BR>
"I would say that our basketball team is totally different," coach Billy Donovan said. "Every guy on our team is playing a completely different role than they did a year ago."<BR>
Noah, a 6-foot-11 center from New York by way of France, has been the rock. He had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in Friday night's win over seventh-seeded Georgetown.<BR>
Both teams love to get out and run and should be eager to do so after being stymied in the round of 16. BC slowed the pace to a crawl in an overtime loss to Villanova.<BR>
Georgetown did the same against Florida, but Brewer's three-point play and Horford's two free throws with 7 seconds lifted the Gators.<BR>
"It's going to be an up-and-down game," Brewer said. "That's what we like to do, run up and down the court, so we are going to have a good time."<BR>
After BC's size and muscle forced Villanova to ditch its vaunted four-guard lineup, the Wildcats are looking forward to putting their racing slicks on again for today.<BR>
"We definitely both like to run down the court," Allan Ray said. "It's not like BC, where they like to slow the game down. It's definitely going to be up and down."<BR>
When Wright first installed that small lineup, the basketball purist in him cringed.<BR>
"It looked ridiculous," Wright said. "Honestly."<BR>
As the wins started to pile up, the offense has grown on him.<BR>
"There are some positives to this," Wright said. "It is creating problems for the other team, too. So we have hung with it. It gets us by. I am not making any videos on it."<BR>
If those four guards carry the Cats back to the Final Four, he won't have to. There will be plenty of others who will do that work for him.<BR>